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Lattice of Heaven
The Lattice of Heaven was a planned, all-powerful astral connection that would have linked all the godly domains in the Astral Sea together into a single realm. It was destroyed while still incomplete in the beginning of the Dawn War, and its possibilities was lost forever. The destruction of the Lattice caused problems in the Astral Sea that still persist to the present age, like the misplacement of the souls of dead mortals. History The gods Erathis, Moradin and, to a lesser extent, Corellon, was integral to the Lattices creation, and Erathis felt its destruction most keenly. Erathis had hoped that the communication and immediate transportation the Lattice would have allowed could have created a new type of community among the gods, turning what had resembled a widely scattered group of city-states into a single densely populated and integrated nation; as the god of civilization, Erathis thought that she would play a major role in an integrated heaven, even if other deities hadn't fully realized the implications of the Lattice.The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea The incomplete Lattice was shattered during the primordials first invasion into the Astral Sea in the beginning of the Dawn War, and the dominions were scattered. Lore suggest that the destruction was caused by the primordial forces theft of the Rune of Stone Eternal, a mystical glyph that gave the Lattice strength enough to bind the different dominions.Dragon Magazine #396 (p.53) Some think that appearance of astral diamonds in the Astral Sea is a side effect of the destruction of the Lattice. After the destruction of the Lattice of Heaven, the divine dominions stopped functioning at full power and effectiveness. Many mortals who were traveling to their god's dominion to become exalted (soulform beings in service of specific gods) suffered the repercussions of that event, instead waking up on the shores of the border islands surrounding each of the dominions. They are cursed with the name "outsiders" because they are physically unable to enter the dominion of their god. So far as anyone knows, the only truly fixed locations in the Astral Sea are occupied by the few functioning divine dominions that still maintain some sort of connection with the skeleton of the original divine Lattice, such as Celestia, Tytherion, and the Nine Hells. The border islands surrounding the functioning dominions rise from the substance of the Astral Sea apparently as a consequence of the leftover magic of the Lattice. They don't stay in fixed positions, but each does tend to remain within the orbit of its source dominion. The rest of the islands, motes, and shattered dominions of the Astral Sea often change position slightly or drastically every year as a consequence of changes in the astral tide. The Angel Trails are temporary roads between dominions that only angels can create and use, and are a testament to the still existing connection between the angels and the Lattice. Most arcs last for a day or three (at most a week) as angels of two dominions trade positions, information, and tasks, flowing back and forth along the trail almost too quickly to be perceived. Erathis agenda includes plans to remake the Lattice by using existing pieces of the Lattice, using knowledge gained in her campaign of the Game of Making, by restoring shattered dominions and place new gods to rule over the dominions when they are repaired. This plan might take eons, but Erathis is convinced that the world cannot be rebuilt into a better, more civilized place until the Lattice and the Astral Sea has been remade. References Category:Points of Light